John H. Conrad

Associate

Professional Experience

John H. Conrad joined the firm as an associate attorney in 2009 with over 23 years of experience as a civil engineer in all phases of the construction industry.

Litigation Experience:
Mr. Conrad has been involved with all phases of construction litigation, including: evaluating claims; analysis of construction defects; creating and responding to written discovery; taking and defending depositions; pretrial motions; mediation of disputes; and litigation proceedings including arbitration and in court. His prior experience in the construction industry allows Mr. Conrad to review project documents and analyze disputes in less time and with more certainty as to key considerations necessary to fully evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of his client’s claims.

Engineering Design Experience:
Mr. Conrad's career included 9 years in the structural design of buildings, structures, and complex entertainment machinery. His experience included design with all types of building materials, complex modeling analysis of structures, and management and coordination of construction operations. This experience allows Mr. Conrad a thorough understanding of the process and requirements for creating complete contract documents and the proper interface of the design team on a construction project.

Construction Experience:
Mr. Conrad worked for more than 12 years as a project manager, design manager, and project executive for a design/build contracting company involved in light weight building enclosure systems and specialty structures. This experience included work on over 200 projects located throughout the United States, most of which involved large scale steel and glass structures. The projects included: airports, courthouses, university buildings, commercial buildings, specialty structures, and fabric structures. He was responsible for contract negotiation, design development, constructability reviews, construction planning and oversight, risk analysis, coordination between design and construction entities, site logistics, budget development and monitoring, change order development and negotiation, and assisting outside counsel in resolving construction claims and disputes.

Mr. Conrad has also worked in the capacity of construction consultant, in evaluating the performance of construction entities and providing expert analysis for cost and schedule impacts on construction projects.

Representative Projects:

Litigation:

• Foxborough Cogeneration Facility, Victorville, California – analyzed project documents to determine defective cost analyses provided by construction manager, and identified delays and defects in construction plans provided by the project engineer.
• Exotic Animal Training and Management Facility, Moorpark, California – complaints, analysis of validity of claims, written discovery, depositions, and acted as second chair in trial in which all of opposing party’s claims were denied. Also assisted in separate litigation to dismiss false claim act allegations against our client.
• Warner Avenue Gravity Sewer Project, City of Huntington Beach – analysis of claims, written discovery, depositions, and acted as second chair leading up to trial. The case settled on the eve of trial for a value that was acceptable to our client.
• Newland Street Widening Project – analysis of claims, written discovery, depositions, and acted as second chair leading up to trial. The case settled on the eve of trial for a value that was acceptable to our client.
• Nellis AFB – analysis of claims made, written discovery, mediation of dispute to satisfaction of client.